Ben Platt on possible return for Dear Evan Hansen film: 'It's a toss-up at this point'

Broadway's former darling production Dear Evan Hansen is slowly making its way to the big screen. Booksmart's Kaitlyn Dever is eyeing a lead role in the cast, but one name — a crucial name at that — remains absent: Ben Platt. Will the star of the original production make a reprisal in the movie version? Jimmy Fallon asked what's going on there during a recent video chat with the actor for The Tonight Show.

"We're kind of in this weird COVID limbo where anything can happen," Platt said. "It's something that we've definitely been trying to get together to make happen. I know Universal [Pictures] really wants to make the film. It's a toss-up at this point just based on, can we do it safely and can we get it together in time?"

Platt was 23 when he debuted as the titular Evan Hansen, a high school teen with social anxiety whose therapist suggests he write positive-affirming letters to himself. The show opened in New York in December 2016 and Jordan Fisher (Rent: Live, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You) has since taken over the role on Broadway. (Well, he did before Broadway shut down due to the coronavirus.) Now 26, Platt told Fallon, "Some of us are getting a little long in the tooth, so I think it's a now or never kind of thing."

The actor, who has since returned for season 2 of The Politician on Netflix, said he's still "hopeful it can come together and we can find a safe way to do it. As of now it could really go either way, but I think it could be a beautiful thing still. We'll see."

Dever entered talks to star in the movie version as Zoe, Evan's love interest whose brother died by suicide. In Dear Evan Hansen, Evan becomes wrapped up in a lie when he pretends to have had a close kinship with his dead classmate.

The play won six Tony Awards in 2017, including one for Best Musical. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Dear Evan Hansen songwriters, are also onboard the movie as executive producers. Stephen Chbosky (Wonder) will direct the film and Steve Levenson, who wrote the musical's book, is on script duty.

Related content:

• Kaitlyn Dever in talks to star in Dear Evan Hansen film adaptation
• Watch Jordan Fisher sing 'For Forever' in Broadway's Dear Evan Hansen
• Watch 4 Evan Hansens come together for stirring new rendition of 'For Forever'